The Republic of Congo and the African Union Telecommunications (UAT) concluded a deal on Thursday to promote information and communication technologies (ICT) in Africa.
According to the Congolese Ministry of Telecommunications, the agreement was signed by the Telecommunications Minister Thierry Moungalla in the capital Brazzaville and the secretary general of UAT, Akossi-Akossi.
Th deal was struck after Congo said in January it desired to host the third plenipotentiary conference of African states on concerted efforts to promote ICT development in the continent.
The conference is being planned three years after its first was held in Tripoli, Libya in July 2006 with an agenda of electing the new secretary
general, renewal of the terms of the administration council members and approval of the 2010-2014 strategic plan and budget.
"The Congo plenipotentiary conference will be a forum where the African governments, public and private sector organizations and the civil society
groups will formulate policies and effective strategies in accordance with the previous conferences of the International Union of Telecommunications," the government said in a statement.
Congo wants to play host to boost its cooperation with other African countries already involved in the promotion and development of
telecommunications.
The conference will be held alongside a series of other important events, including an African Union summit and a global conference of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is to be held in Kenya in March 2010.